Conservative Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) took a shot at President Joe Biden’s decision to pause approvals for pending and future applications for liquified-natural gas exports from new projects.
What Happened: The Biden administration’s decision came amid pressure from climate activists, with the president stating that the pause would allow the administration to “learn more about their impacts on energy costs, security, and our environment.”
The Department of Energy (DOE) said in a release that the Congress has mandated it to evaluate the public interest of proposed exports to countries with which the U.S. does not have a free trade agreement.
“As the natural gas sector has transformed over the past decade, DOE must use the most complete, updated, and robust analysis possible on market, economic, national security, environmental considerations, including current authorized exports compared to domestic supply, energy security, greenhouse gas emissions including carbon dioxide and methane, and other factors,” the DOE said.
The federal agency said it will begin an update of the analysis and “pause determinations on pending applications for export of LNG to non-Free Trade Agreement countries” until the update has been completed.
Greene Reacts: As Biden posted about the pause on X, Greene reacted to the announcement by stating that “America last is beginning to [be] an understatement at this point.”
“Killing America's clean affordable liquid natural gas industry is like attacking our own country,” she added.
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Why It’s Important: DOE estimates show that the U.S. is the global leader in LNG exports with 14 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in current operating capacity and 48 Bcf/d in total authorizations. This represents more than three times its export capacity, it said.
A spokesperson for the European Commission told Reuters, “This pause will not have any short- to medium-term impacts on the EU’s security of supply.”
The Reuters report noted that the previous review was in 2018, and at that time, the export capacity was at 4 Bcf/day. This has tripled since and is set to jump higher by 2030, the report said.
The potential surge in exports has set off alarm bells among climate activists and youth groups as they accuse the LNG projects of polluting local communities and leaving the world heavily reliant on fossil fuels.
DOE data show that the LNG U.S. export price was at $7.02 per thousand cubic feet in October compared to $14.36 in June 2022.
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The Roundhill Alerian LNG ETF LNGG, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the performance of the Alerian Liquefied Natural Gas Index — an index comprising of stocks that are materially engaged in the liquefied natural gas industry, ended Friday’s session up 0.45% at $24.23, according to Benzinga Pro data.
The export suspension will hurt companies that were waiting to export LNG, especially to Europe, Reuters said. Cheniere Energy, Inc. LNG and Sempra SRE are among the companies that are likely to be impacted, it added.
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